Cancun part two

This entry is all about the Mayan ruins we saw while we were in the Yucatan. The first site we visited was called Coba. Coba is the largest of all the Mayan cities and one of the least uncovered. It also has the tallest pyramid of all the Mayan cities(above) and they still let you climb it. There are three main areas where they have uncovered buildings for tourists to see, but the majority of the city is still jungled over. They have uncovered an ancient road in Coba that connects all of the other Mayan cities in Mexico and runs down into Guatemala.  

A jungled over entrance to a temple

Inside a temple

working hard to keep the structural integrity sound

One of the several game courts. Apparently if your team lost you were all sacrificed.

A temple that has not been uncovered yet. We maybe weren't supposed to be on this side of the 'do not cross line'...... Maybe.

The other site we visited is called Tulum. It is completely uncovered and very touristy. With good reason, it is an amazing city that has walls on three sides and cliffs over the ocean on the other. It is very protected with only one small beach with access to the city and small gates on each side.

The building on the left is an astrological building. The Mayans had their own zodiac symbols and calender system that was really advanced. The building in the back, on the right is the main temple of Tulum.

Amazing carving in a building. If you blow up the picture you can see the red paint still on the face.

There are three Gods carved into the three recess on the top of the first story of this building. The one in the middle is carved upside down, and means the God that came down from the sky. The one on the left is his father. And the there is no God in the right one, but all of the radiance of a God is there. That is because the third one doesn't have a body. Hmmm.

Some stupid view out to sea.

Amazing Trip! Amazing places to see! Amazing girl to see them with! Only regret was that we didn't have more time to explore more sites.

Cancun part one

We had been planning for months to go to Costa Rica after Christmas...but when one of us broke our hand we weren't going to be able to do a lot of the things we had planned on (surfing, white water rafting...).  Then our friends who were coming with us were flying standby (she works for Jet Blue), and all the return flights filled up so they weren't going to be able to go.  So they offered to give us buddy passes and we all went to Cancun instead!  We flew on 6 different flights, spent 16.5 hours on airplanes, and 27 hours in 4 different airports, but it was all worth it for 7 lovely days in Mexico!! And we're still doing our Costa Rica trip in August

  

We stayed in a condo on the beach.  Most hotels are hundreds of dollars a night but this was extremely affordable and still nice.  (We'll give you the info if you're interested!) Most of our time were spent at the beach.  Doug and Tyler bodysurfed while Stephanie and I soaked up the warm sun.  

Tyler and Doug bodysurfing

this adorable puppy (with his equally adorable owner) was our friend on the beach

here is doug holding me up in a wave

here is doug after he pushed me into the wave. trouble.

at the very end of the beach we found some fun tide pools and this blow hole

-We got really comfortable with the bus system but drivers there are CRAZY!  Especially the bus drivers- weaving in and out of traffic and merging whenever they feel like it.  I'm glad we weren't driving!

-I hated the food.  They try to make "American" food but it doesn't taste the same.  And they don't cater much to vegetarians, so I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for almost every meal.

-We were at a restaurant on new year's eve and got to participate in a fun mexican tradition: everyone gets 12 grapes and at midnight you eat a grape each time the clock chimes and make a wish on it.

Hallowgivingmas

Blog announcement: We are not bad at keeping up with our blog. We are bad at uploading our pictures from our camera.

 Just before Halloween we got together with Chris and Lisa and carved pumpkins. The cute kitty was ours (lys's). Chris' lady still let's them carve cool stuff. That will change Chris.

On Thanksgiving we headed down to Beaver, spent the night, and headed back early. Gotta love work. The family that came was big enough that we had to rent out the basement of the city library for our dinner. Granny and Grandpa gave us a marble board for Christmas, which we opened as soon as we got home. The marble game is a family favorite and we are so excited to have our own. Below is a picture of Bren and Dad losing to us.

One of the two of us did something dumb and broke their hand. I don't think names are important, I'm sure whoever it was feels stupid about breaking it doing a superman dive onto the couch and we don't need to say anymore. We don't have insurance, merry Christmas.

For Christmas we were in Fort Collins for probably the last time. The Warrens are moving in the next year and we were really glad to spend one more Christmas there.

christmas shopping, long time friends and NBA stars.

The other day Lys and I had a chance to get some of our christmas shopping done and spend the day together. It was a rare treat to have us both not working on the same day. The shopping was a little harder than expected, as expected, but we got a lot of our list taken care of. Then in the evening we went to dinner with an old companion of mine and his girlfriend with our mission president and his wife. Regretfully I had not been keeping in contact as I should and it was wonderful to catch up and introduce my wife to them. Also while we were at dinner we noticed that Patrick Ewing was eating behind us at the other table.

Chris, Lisa, President Edwards, Sister Edwards, Lys, Me

(in the background is Patrick Ewing)

Lys didn't know who he was. Which I must admit I kinda love about her. Just not that important to her. A great day, great friends, and a celebrity sighting. Check, check, check.

Merry Christmas

Since we're not sending christmas cards this year, CLICK HERE to see our christmas greetings!

WEDDING!!

 July 11, 2009- we were married at the Evans family cabin up the Weber Canyon.  It was a small gathering with a few family members and close friends.  We had a nice ceremony and dinner afterwards.  We had been praying and praying for good weather.  We checked the weather forecast that morning and it looked hopeful but there were still scattered storms possible.  We had an indoor backup in town but we were really excited to get married outside in the beautiful mountains.  About half an hour before the ceremony was supposed to start, just as everyone was arriving, the rain came, and it came hard.  Guests were being ushered in with umbrellas and everyone was asking if we were seriously going to do it!  Thankfully, the rain stopped just in time, the sun came out, and lots of people helped wipe down all the chairs. (thank you!!)

The wonderful Nicki Schmidt (who also did our announcements) played Canon as I walked down the isle.  Check out her rad guitar.

This is Doug's best man, Matt, who also took some of our engagement photos and did ALL of my BEAUTIFUL flowers

My pretty sister / maid of honor

(hint: click on any of the pictures to see them bigger)

Watch out BYU fans

Doug was recently accepted to the University of Utah!  Booyah!  Which means we don't have to move to Utah Valley! Double Booyah!  He's joining the U's 'Outdoor Recreation' program in January with hopes of eventually becoming an outdoor rec professor.  This will be a great fit for my little outdoorsman.  He gets to take as many adventure classes as he can fit into his schedule and then he will get to teach them!


We've both been on a reading kick lately. Between the two of us, we have recently read: 
InkHeart, by Cornelia Funke **** 4 out of 5 stars
Part of Inkspell (the sequel) ****
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott  *****
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ***
The Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist *****
The Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist *****


I'd also like to give a birthday shout out to my best friend since I was 5, Stacey, who's celebrating her golden birthday today!

Mtn+Man Time=Mtn Man Time!!!!

So my boss Dave is a guy who gets stuff done. And when he gets an idea in his head, it happens. 

Dave's Idea: 'Doug lets go hike Lone Peak in October'

Happens:

A nice early start from Draper

Dave looking majestic with the early morning sky.

Once the sun hits, I really hit my stride, and the true mtn. explorer comes out.

The south slope of Lone peak. (notice the peak in the upper left corner)

A high meadow with a view of the cirque and the summit

Doug and Dave in the Cirque. Due to the snow, and impending storm, and the late hour, and because we were really tired this was the end of our assent.

Lone Peak's summit is one of a kind. It is a platform in the sky with three sides of cliffs with a sheer drop of anywhere between 600 and 900 feet. And on the fourth a steep slope of boulders. We will return when there is less snow and longer days. The cirque was well worth the effort and we hiked back feeling victorious.

A Millcreek Autumn

So Lys and I found some free time a week or two ago to go up Millcreek canyon and do a little hiking. There is something that is so nostalgic about autumn. It reminds me of elementary school and of childhood adventures in the woods. 

The canyon and the day were so pretty.

The leaves were already falling, but still had so much color.

 

Leaf Carpet

Lys

Some leaves I quickly arranged and misted so they looked pretty.

log crossing

wet trail

we liked it so much that we think we will buy an annual pass to Millcreek so we can go and enjoy it more often. In the winter they have a bunch of cross country ski trails and I have decided Lys will love this with me.

Spider Check

Since we've moved into our basement apartment this summer we've found, on different occasions, THREE bugs IN our bed.  The first two times they were gross black beetles and the third time was a very large spider.  Really traumatizing!  All three times ended in hysterical crying on my part.  So now every night before we go to bed we check the covers, pillows, under the bed, and around the room for any unwanted visitors.

Autumn Extravaganza

The weather is cooling down and the holiday season is about to start, and we decided it was time to get out of the city and enjoy some quality mountain time with friends. We headed up to the weber and spent three days at the cabin with a whole crew of people. The weather was great though a little cold as expected the first two days. And early Sunday morning it snowed a couple of inches.

Most of the time was spent doing really important things: hiking, disc golf in the meadow, bocce ball in the yard, reading, marshmallow roasting, squints battle, twister, phase ten, speed scrabble, visiting horses, visiting a waterfall, ping pong, watching movies, playing the guitar, and of course making and eating delicious food all the time! 

A small tributarie of the Weber near the cabin

some cute chick I saw wandering around out there.

A huge beaver dam out in a small lake

my new friend

the extravaganza crew(minus Dale, Katie, Derek, Brett, and Leah)

Alyssa spending a hectic day reading

one of the many epic twister battles

some stupid view to the west

and our winter morning

The Birds

Last weekend we got to stay at Doug's parent's house to take care of their pets and be with his sister, Seneca, while they were at Granny and Grandpa's house in Beaver.  Our other sister, Brenna, and her boyfriend, Sven, were there most of the weekend as well.  I think they were more excited about having the kitty there than us:)  We loved watching conference, playing phase ten, and Sven's burritos!  The Tracy Aviary was having a promotional weekend with free admission so we went with Seneca.  The Tracy Aviary is a little zoo, but all birds.  They have about 400 birds and 135 different species, many of them rare or endangered.  My favorites were the pelicans.  I think Doug's favorite was the Andean Condor.  He has a 9 foot wingspan and is 50 years old!!

Alyssa's Pelicans: so pretty

Doug's Condor: kinda creepy

Golden Eagle

Flamingos- notice the grey baby in the middle

Sisters

Kitty update:  The kitty is doing great.  I think it might be a girl now but we're going to the vet on Monday so we'll find out for sure.  She's eating lots, playing lots, and is pretty much the cutest kitty ever!  She has the best personality.  She loves to play but is equally cuddly, always snuggling in our laps.

Dumpy the Dumpster Kitty

A few days ago a lady came into Lys' work with this little guy in her arms.

He was meowing loudly behind a dumpster in the parking lot all alone. Now some of you who know Alyssa might jump to the conclusion that it was her idea that this little guy needed a mother and that it was written in the stars to be her. But the truth is the little guy, who's name is not really dumpy, actually wanted a daddy and he choose me from the smell that was on Alyssa's clothes. So Warrens, we want you to know that this is in no way Alyssa's fault that we now have another kitty that we are not allowed to have. (For those of you not in the loop, Lys already had to pawn off one kitty to her mother because we're not allowed to have animals) 

Our best guess is that he is 4 weeks old, and the 'he' is our best guess too. But just to be safe we aren't going to name him until we are sure. He was very malnurished when we found him, and is apparently hungry still because he is bitting my toes right now. Our big breakthroughs with our kitty saving project have been: He ate, He pooped, He pooped in the litter box, He drank, and now is playful and happy. Still working on getting number one in the box. But because I'm worried about him having gender role confusion, Alyssa deals with that part mostly. Okay that's the important stuff, here's the pictures: 

State Fair

We celebrated our two month anniversary at the Utah State Fair.  It was so fun and we went on opening day so it was only $2 to get in!  We visited all the 4-H animals, had fun at the rodeo, went down the big yellow carnival slide, listened to a fun two man band and got sick from so much cotton candy!

I've never seen such cute cows before.  And we decided that we really need to get a bunny as a pet when we move (no pets allowed here).  You can litter box train them so you can just let them hop around the house--you don't have to put them in a cage.  Doesn't this bunny almost look like a furry little dog?  They were so cute.

Doug totally beat me to the bottom.

 What a great guy, and what a great two months its been!

Over the River, and Through the Clouds, on our Sunday afternoon we go.

This last Sunday we wanted to go up in the mountains, have dinner and read together. When we got up Big Cottonwood canyon we were in a rain storm. So instead of reading we talked in the car and then when the rain slowed went for a walk around Silver Lake. A lot of the trail is actually over the lake on boardwalks. It was so pretty and we made friends with ducks who mistakenly thought we were bringing dinner. After our wet walk we got back in the car and started driving, but we were not ready for our time up there to be done. About this time we were coming up to Guardsman Pass and we decided to go for a bit more of a drive. 

The road over Guardsman Pass is a little two lane highway that is moderately maintained in the summer and not at all in the winter. As we climbed up the canyon wall we entered the low hanging rain clouds and our world became white. Every now and then we would catch glimpses of the mountains around us and of the canyon far below. As we made it over the pass the clouds cleared and we could see clearly down into summit county. We descended down past Deer Valley Resort and then through Park City. It was not the evening we had planned, but it turned out to be one of the prettiest drives we have ever been on, and one of the most memorable Sunday afternoons.